The webinar dovetails on the popular 2011 movie by the same title, which is built on the premise that the philosophy of the Oakland A’s baseball team management is “medieval.” Likewise, Mr. Anderson points out that law schools do not typically train lawyers in businesses and instead are taught if attorneys simply build a great practice, the rest will fall into place.

However the industry has changed and Mr. Anderson, who has spent time as a managing partner, offers six business metrics every law firm should track. The webinar slides are embedded nearby, and the full webinar is viewable in a downloadable format (Windows Media); it runs just about an hour and is well worth watching in its entirety.

Six Business of Law Metrics to Track

1. Cost of servicing a client. The cost of servicing a client includes all of the fixed costs – rent and utilities – and the fixed marketing expenditures to determine what it costs to merely bring a new client in the door.

2. Measures of profitability. Dissecting portability is useful for understanding the impact, or contribution each respective area has on the bottom line. One practice area may be more profitable that another and the same is true of clients.

Firm profitability

Profitability by practice area

Profitability by partners

Profitability by client

Profitability by timekeeper (all levels)

3. Marketing expenditure as a percent of revenue. Mr. Anderson says especially among smaller firms, such as solo- and duo-firms tend to limit marketing to personal networking and the management of a website. A common fear of marketing he hears from small firms is that marketing will work – bring new clients in – and then not have the resources to serve the clients properly. He argues that this places the firm, or its attorneys, in a position to become “more of the lawyer you to become” by having a choice among the good clients. As a benchmark, research suggests law firms spend approximately 3% of revenue on marketing.

4. Technology expenditure as a percent of revenue. Technology spending not only includes computers and hardware, but today also entails mobile devices and secure client portals. Mr. Anderson points to several trends reports indicating about 60% of all law firms have a budget for technology; spend between 2% and 4% of revenue on technology which runs on average between $8 and $17k per lawyer.

5. Realization. Realization boils down to how much a firm works compared with how it realizes in earnings. Realization rates tend to slip along these areas:

How much work versus how much is billed

Discounts and write-downs before billing

How much is written-off after billing

The amount collected

The lifecycle of accounts receivable – the span between service performed and payment

6. Industry benchmarks. Many of the metrics in 1-5 are aimed at helping firms create a baseline of metrics to understand where a firm stands. Benchmarks help firms understand how it measures relative to peers in the industry. Several industry organizations or industry-wide surveys can provide good data for benchmarking a firm:

About Frank Strong

Frank Strong is the communications director for the LexisNexis software division located on NC State’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh. In this capacity, he leads communications efforts in support of software products for law practice and law department management and also litigation tools – across large law, small law and corporate counsel segments. With more than 15 years of experience in the high-tech sector, Strong previously served as director of public relations for Vocus, which developed marketing, PR and media monitoring software. He has held multiple roles both in-house with corporations, ranging from startups to global organizations, and has also endured the rigors of billable hours, having completed gigs at PR firms including the top 10 global firm Hill & Knowlton. A veteran of two year-long deployments, Strong has concurrently served in uniform in reserve components of the military for more than 20 years, initially as an enlisted Marine and later as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. Strong holds a BA in Film and TV production from Worcester State University, an M.A. in Public Communication from American University, and an M.B.A. from Marymount University. He is a PADI-certified Master Scuba Diver and holds a USPA "B" skydiving license.

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This blog is maintained by the LexisNexis® Business of Law Software Solutions (BLSS). BLSS is dedicated to developing software that helps professionals at law firms and legal departments of all sizes manage the business element of their practice or departments with innovative software and mobile solutions for customer relationship management (CRM), time and billing management, matter management, client analysis, legal holds and more.